Howard University Students To Train On Google Campus

‘Howard West’ is an environment where the university’s computer science students can immerse themselves in tech training and culture.

The tech industry has come under an avalanche of criticism in recent years over its lack of racial and gender diversity.

To help bring more African-American computer scientists into its workforce, Google announced on Thursday plans to open “Howard West” on it Mountain View, California campus to train Howard University students, USA Today reports.

This summer, between 25 to 30 of the historically Black university’s junior and senior computer science majors will surround themselves in technology training and culture at Google. Senior Google engineers and Howard faculty will instruct the students in coding and other advanced technology for course credit.

A statement from Google explained that Howard West is an outgrowth of the company’s strategy to recruit more software engineers from HBCUs. African-American computer scientists account for about 1 percent of its workforce.

The tech giant already has a hand in training Howard University students at the school’s campus in the District of Columbia through its Google in Residence (GIR) program, in which Google engineers are embedded as Howard University faculty.

“Through GIR we’ve learned a lot about the hurdles Black students face in acquiring full-time work in the tech industry,” said Bonita Stewart, a Google vice president and Howard graduate. She added that Howard West answers many of the challenges the students face, including a lack of exposure and mentors.

Howard University President Wayne Frederick said he looks forward to seeing more Howard and other HBCU students, as well as underrepresented minorities working in the tech industry and launching tech start-ups, according to USA Today. He added: “Exposure to that environment early will pay dividends on the back end.”

Ultimately, the company plans to expand its reach to other HBCUs, which together account for more than a third of Black students earning computer science degrees.

Continue reading Good ‘Ol Days: Barack Obama Was Nominated For President By The DNC 11 Years Ago

Good 'Ol Days: Barack Obama Was Nominated For President By The DNC 11 Years Ago

Exactly 11 years ago today, Barack Obama was nominated for President of the United States by the Democratic National Convention in Denver, Colorado. Obama famously gave a powerful speech.
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Obama said in part, "America, we cannot turn back. Not with so much work to be done. Not with so many children to educate, and so many veterans to care for. Not with an economy to fix and cities to rebuild and farms to save. Not with so many families to protect and so many lives to mend. America, we cannot turn back. We cannot walk alone. At this moment, in this election, we must pledge once more to march into the future. Let us keep that promise — that American promise — and in the words of Scripture hold firmly, without wavering, to the hope that we confess."
Watch the speech below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ato7BtisXzE
Obama had many wins while he was president. He brought the Black unemployment rate for African Americans from 16.8 percent, due to the horror of President George W. Bush to 7.8 percent by January 2017. The poverty rate for African Americans fell faster in 2015 than in any year since 1999 -- falling 2.1 percentage points, resulting in 700,000 fewer African Americans in poverty.
Teen pregnancy among Black women was at an historic low with he birth rate per 1,000 African-American teen females fell from 60.4 in 2008 to 34.9 in 2014. Pell Grant funding for HBCU students increased between 2007 and 2014, growing from $523 million to $824 million. Obama banned solitary confinement for juveniles in federal prison in January of 2016, the President of ACLU said about this in 2016, “It’s absolutely huge. We rarely have presidents take notice of prison conditions.” The incarceration rates for Black men and women fell during each year of the Obama Administration and were at their lowest points in over two decades when he left office.
Not to mention, he saved our country from one of the greatest recessions since the Great Depression due to the Republican administration before him -- and now our current president tries to take all the credit.
People are so happy 2ith his legacy that the people of Los Angeles were blessed to have President Barack H. Obama Highway as in December. The Mercury News reported at the time, "Two large, green-and-white freeway signs were unveiled Thursday, one on the right shoulder of westbound State Route 134 at the beginning of the 210 Freeway at Fair Oaks Avenue in Pasadena, the other at the eastbound 134 in the vicinity of Route 2 in the city of Los Angeles near Glendale."
In honor of Obama's historic nomination, check out photos of our favorite president below.